We will hit India hard at Indore: Pietersen

England captain Kevin Pietersen vowed his team would bounce back and give India a run for its money at Indore in the second tie on Monday.

Written by Press Trust of India

Read Time: 2 mins

Rajkot:

Shell-shocked by the 158-run defeat courtesy Yuvraj Singh's blitzkrieg 138 not out in the first one-dayer on Friday, England captain Kevin Pietersen vowed his team would bounce back and give India a run for its money at Indore in the second tie on Monday.

"Yuvraj played an absolutely fantastic innings. He hit even good balls for sixes. It's definitely disappointing to lose. But there are six games left in the series and we intend to bounce back and hit India hard on Monday. We would give them a good run for the money," Pietersen said.

India made a record total of 387 for five, highest at the Madhavrao Scindia ground and their highest score against any Test-playing nation in ODIs, and then shot out the tourists for a meagre 229 inside 40 overs to emerge deserving winners.

Pietersen felt that his side needs to improve in all aspects of the game -- batting, fielding and bowling -- and did not think that they would have done better if they had played more than two warm-up ties before the series.

"We had gone to Antigua (for the Stanford Super Series) and then came here. We are well prepared now," he said dismissing any such excuses.

"We need to sit down and study the match and see the areas we need to improve on," he elaborated.

He dismissed any suggestions of Yuvraj faking injury and that the Indian batsman should not have been given a runner.

"He did not carry the injury into the match but got injured while batting. It can happen to any of us," he explained and also shot down suggestions that the Indian batsman could have faked his injury.

"You have to trust Yuvraj. He got injured and would not have otherwise called for a runner," he said.

Though happy with his own innings of 63, the highest for his side, Pietersen wished he could have converted it into a hundred after having come close to doing so in India on a few occasions earlier.

"I love batting in India. I have had five or six fifties before. I would like to get a hundred," he said.